On the picket lines, guarded optimism

'I don't think we'll believe it until we get the final word'

September 13, 2012|By Colleen Mastony, Chicago Tribune reporter

Chicago Teachers Union walk the picket line on the sidewalk outside of the Hilton Chicago at 720 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools were in the hotel working out a deal as the strike continues into its fourth day. (Jose Osorio)

Teachers on the picket lines greeted the news of progress in the contract negotiations with cautious optimism Thursday. But the relief was tempered by worries about the details of the final agreement — would it be worth it? — and concerns over whether the deal really would get done.

"I'm still very nervous and uncertain because I feel like we've heard this before, at least from the CPS side, that they were very close to an agreement," said Madeline Kobayashi, 31, a teacher at Philip Rogers Elementary School. "I don't think we'll believe it until we get the final word."

For her part, Kobayashi worried that if the strike dragged on much longer, it could damage the trust between teachers and parents. "I feel almost a little bit nervous about how parents are going to react to us," she said.

"We love our kids, and we love our parents, and the worst feeling is to think that they're going to be upset with us. We don't want that. Each day that goes by, we feel we're losing support."

Across the city, teachers have marched, sung and chanted until their voices were hoarse. They came home every day with little more to show for their effort than sunburn on their faces and blisters on their feet. And they anxiously watched the news for updates on the negotiations and hoped their walkout had made a difference.

"Was it worth it? I don't know how to answer that. It's not over yet," said Ben Beard, 35, a librarian at Jordan Elementary Community School. "Some of these larger issues about charter schools and class size, we don't know how they are going to play out. We weren't striking over those things specifically, but they're part and parcel to what we were trying to do, which is to make schools better for CPS students."

Likewise, Joe Dickinson, 28, a teacher at New Field Elementary School, expressed concern that union officials might give up too much on the way to an agreement.

"I'm worried that the strike is going to be for naught," Dickinson said. "That nothing is going to change in the long run, that the slow creep of privatization and the slow creep of charter schools is going to continue. That we won't have affected it. That's really unacceptable to me."

The last few days had been exhausting, teachers said, both physically and emotionally. Most said they have been up at 5 a.m., on the picket lines by 6:30 in the morning and at rallies in the afternoon.

"At first it was a little exciting. You were bonding with your peers, and you're on a mission. It was fun having people honk at us or flip us off," said Janet Jones, 57, a chemistry teacher at Sullivan High School. "By halfway through the second day, it was really quite boring. And today it was cold."

For some, the uncertainty was the hardest to take.

"Everything is in limbo," Kobayashi said. "We're all getting sick. It's the anxiety of every day, of not knowing what's going to happen next."

Some teachers saved for months in preparation for going without pay during a strike. Others said they were eating rice and beans, as a way to cut costs, in case the strike did not end swiftly.

Until they get the final word, the teachers said they would continue to tighten their belts and march.

"If this doesn't go the right way, we're in it for the long haul," said Ruth Arnold, 47, a teacher and a union delegate at Philip Rogers Elementary. "But we'd still rather be in our classrooms. No one is saying what a good time this is."